Page 10 of Shifter Mates for the Single Mom

FIVE

JAMIE

Now this is the cutest shit I have seen in a month.

I looked at Nathan sitting on the couch with our new client and knew instantly that my Alpha was in love with her. The way he’d moved away from her self-consciously told me more than if he’d been lip-locked with her when I walked in. The disappointment in her eyes said even more. It almost made me want to apologize for my shitty timing.

Nathan was a stoic, at least as far as Wolves went. Kept his cards close to his chest, thought through his responses to things, and was generally the adult in the room even when the rest of us were good and pissed off about something. But too much of that could make a man uptight–or drive a Wolf a little crazy from boredom, skin hunger, and restlessness.

Point was, it was good to see him opening up to a woman, even if it was kind of unexpected. The timing in general kind of sucked. We were up against a serious enemy. One who could spread misery for the humans far and wide, kill Madelyne and her son, and cause serious problems for shifters, too.

“So, what have you got for me?”

I smiled and deliberately sat down between them, as much to break the tension as to give both a good view of the tablet screen. “So. Here we have a layout of the house and grounds. The whole place is covered with security cameras, but Matthias knew the layout well enough to find a blind spot and disable a few in the side yard. That’s why we don’t have footage of the murders.”

“I see. What is your solution?” Nathan sounded a little growly. I could see the Wolf in his eyes, just a touch agitated about where I’d sat myself.

I fought down a laugh at the sight. “The answer is to change everything up. Camera placement, sensors, everything. Since a Tiger can leap twenty feet vertically, we can’t set them high enough that he can’t get at them. Armored enclosures will be a lot more effective, especially if they’re domed so claws will slip off of them.”

“Better make those domes armored glass, in case he gets clever and brings a rifle,” Nathan said. Madelyne, meanwhile, was watching the screen intently as I took notes and attached them to the diagram.

She smelled nice. Very nice. No perfume today, just soap, toothpaste, skin cream, and her own scent under it all. I sniffed appreciatively, feeling the first trickle of attraction. Behave, I told myself.

“One idea I had is to include infrared cameras next to the regular feeds. The infrared can pick up if someone’s body temperature is unusually high.”

Madelyne’s brows drew together. “Why would that matter?”

“That’s a clue that we’re dealing with a shifter.” Nathan considered the screen, then looked across me at her. “We tend to run hot. Wolves the least, Bears the most. Tigers somewhere in between.”

I’d never even seen a Tiger shifter before, as far as I knew, but they sounded creepy as hell. Like a Maneater who was immune to prion disease and had magical fucking powers as well.

Rakshasa. That’s what the Indians called them. They’d been plaguing South Asia for millennia and had worked their way into even some of India’s spiritual history and legendry. Even deeper than Maneaters had done with Wolves in Europe, or the Bears in Scandinavia.

“Hold on, back up a bit,” our hostess said as she blinked at us both. “Scandinavian folklore? You’re telling me Berserkers are real?”

“That is correct,” Ulf rumbled as he walked inside. “My father fought one of the Bear Warriors once, back home in Norway. The Bear was the only one to beat him.”

“How’d he survive?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Turns out the Bears are healers. My father woke up without a scratch on him.” Ulf was going for a beer. Madelyne had filled up a cooler for them but kept it just inside the door as the day turned scorching. “How much of that electronic stuff do you plan to clutter this place up with?”

“We were just discussing it, Luddite,” I teased. Ulf eyed me. Of all the Wolves I had ever met, Ulf was the one who was the most old-school. I practiced with swords, but I’d seen Ulf walk into a fight with a battle axe on his back right next to his rifle. He didn’t trust technology too much, especially electronics. Their complexity just meant more points of failure to him.

“Okay. So, new cameras, infrared. Pressure sensors on the patios. Motion sensors in the yard. In the house, intrusion sensors and the monitoring setup. Some of it we can get done by tonight, the rest over tomorrow.” I added a few more notes. “Nate, I’ll need to talk some of the purchase details over with you.”

Ulf went back out with two beers and Nathan nodded. “Okay.”

Just then, Madelyne yawned so wide I could see her tonsils. Her mouth snapped shut and she covered it in embarrassment. I snorted while Nathan looked at her with concern.

“You need to go get more sleep,” he insisted.

“I’m… I’m fine,” she protested a bit weakly. “What if you need me to answer questions?”

“It will wait until you’re not yawning half your head off,” he insisted. “Now come on, go take a nap before I decide to carry you upstairs.”

I saw the little flash of mischievous delight in her eyes at the prospect before she stifled another yawn. I pressed my lips together against laughter. I really don’t think she’d mind much there, Boss.

Once we had shooed her upstairs, Nathan eyed me and went for a beer. “What’s so damn funny, Jamie?”

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